Plants and himsa

[Guest guest]

Dear Mahesh,

 

Swami Sivananda (dlsq.org), Pt Ramkumar Sharama Acharya (awgp.org)

and many others have written about Himsa and Ahimsa. Killing for self protection is not himsa, as per even Bhagvad Gita. Our mythology is full of several wars and killings for protecting "Dharma"

 

But let us divert here to your statement that plants have life. It

interested this author.

 

All the messages on diet so far, including those posted by this

author are waste of words, since this author feels that even those

who eat green vegetables and even wheat grass etc are causing Himsa

and thus cruelty on plants. Jain monks avoid eating even green

vegetables during the "Paryushans". Plants have a soul and feelings

like us. We are all human animals and not only those who eat meat etc.

 

Before we go further, author requests you to go through a message on

plant sentiments posted last year.

 

http://health.ayurveda/message/4128?

threaded=1

 

And Frederich Klenner, a Botanist and MD writes in 1973, "When a

plant is fatigued, it wilts, unless relieved of the fatigue, it dies.

Proper atmospheric conditions, or these equivalents conferred by man,

will restore, to some degree, the faltering plant. Even prayer has

been advanced as an active agent to not only relieve the failing

plant of its fatigue, but also to encourage its growth. Plants do

indeed have a soul – the soul of growth. This predicates a potential

capable of responding to "kindness" of various types. In this light,

then, people with "green" thumbs are nothing more than accepted plant

missionaries. [Journal of Applied Nutrition, 1973,

http://www.townsendletter.com/Klenner/KlennerProtocol_forMS.pdf] One

such recent Indian missionary is Sundarlal Bahuguna.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundarlal_Bahuguna]

 

Dr. Jagdishchandra Bose proved scientifically that plants are living

organisms and they do respond to a stimulus like music. He fetched a

Nobel prize for India by this research. This means Plant has greater

capacity to sense and respond to the environment. Now, with the same

logic if we continue and come to the Animal Kingdom, there is one

more new dimension added. It is the dimension of the movement. Plants

can't move much from the place where they are rooted, but animals can

move. They have the freedom of movement. Animals have not only soul

for growth like the plants, but also soul of sensation. There is

also the development of memory- mind, even-though their major life is

governed through natural instincts, which is nothing but the genetic

programming. There is the survival instinct that manifests itself

through reproduction and that's how the species survive and continue.

The next level of evolution is the Human-Body.

 

The human body is the highest on the evolutionary ladder on the

planet earth. It has the most potent and highly developed brain. It

is this Brain which is the Hardware that makes it possible to run the

Software called Mind. Human mind is well developed with its various

aspects such as Memory, Imagination, Power to Compare, Calculate &

rationalize. It has the most potent tool in the form of Intellect,

which is the sense of discrimination. It is this development of Brain

& Mind that makes it possible for human to express. So it is this

development of Mind, which is the new dimension which is not fully

available to Animals. This is how a new dimension is added every time

there is evolution. But at the present level of evolution, the Human

bodies are nothing more than the Thinking Animals or Intellectual

Animals. The dimension of "being" needs to be added for us to be

human-beings. How to add it? Please visit:

http://nvraghuram.blogspot.com/2006/05/panca-kosa-6-being-versus-

doing.html

 

Now it is our decision to be a human being or human body. Though we

are doing himsa or cruelty to plants also, out of necessity to exist,

we should reduce our dependence on green diet and disturb the

environment to a minimum. Ayurveda too encourages himsa when green living plant parts are taken by a vaidya for making medicine. KNowing this, ayurveda suggests proper way to take these plants with prayer. Now we all know how important the green living foods (e.g wheat grass juice) are essential for cancer patients. THus ayurveda, even if it recommends taking plant or animal parts as medicine, with proper prayer and purifying process, since the end is noble cause, it should not be classed as himsa. When the plants, birds and animals will

sing the song of bliss and peace, we may be so much affected by those

vibrations that we may also enjoy bliss just be accepting those

vibrations! THis may obviate the need for medicines also!

 

And for scientific minset here is a test for the vibrations or

energy beams in your house. Put a pot of tulsi plant in your house.

If it grows well, assume that you have satvic vibrations in your

house. Irrespective of what you eat. As per the statement Satva is in

the mind, not in the diet, please carry out this experiment and find

out the truth yourself. Another nobel prize may come to India, if one disproves "you are what you eat" a globally accepted statement by alternatives practitioners.

 

Many patients tell this author that Tulsi does not grow in their

house. And chronic diseases are also guest in the house. Peace helps

Tulsi to grow. It responds to love, respect of family members to each

other. This is a simplest experiment everyone can do, no electronic

equipment nor electricity needed. If you wish to read something about

Tulsi, there are special books written by saints and Vaidyas too. Pt.

Ramkumar Sharma Acharyaji (awgp.org) also has written, a book in

Hindi, perhaps available online to read.

 

 

ayurveda, "Mahesh Krishnamurthy"

<maheshyogi wrote:

>

> There is gross misunderstanding about ahimsa. HImsa means causing

harm. You

> have to understand that when a person is a born non-vegetarian, he

will eat

> meat which is his staple diet. That is not ahimsa. That is his

meal. That is

> his life. On the other hand, when someone kills for fun, that is

ahimsa.

> Plants also have life. Isn't killing plants himsa then?

 

> Sattva is in the mind. Not in what you eat.

[Guest guest]

"The Secret Life of Plants" (see below for details) which we all read in the 60's indeed confirms scientifically the sensitivity of plants and all manifested life. And although many are born into meat eating families and cultures it does not mean that this is followed instinctively - as a child I was revolted by meat and sat for many hours resisting the admonitions of my parents to finish my meal lest children starving in India would suffer by my refusal to eat the good meat in front of me. Assuming that I must always need to suffer in life i was stunned when I met someone as a teenager who told me that if I did not wish to eat meat then I could become a vegetarian, that it was possible to have one's desires fulfilled simply by finding a label to describe it opened enormous possibilities!

 

This kind soul also introduced me to Krishnamurti - face to face - so some of this child's suffering was at an end!

 

 

The Secret Life of Plants (ISBN: 0140039309)

Tompkins, Peter & Bird, Christopher

. This is the revised edition of this book of astounding discoveries about the physical, emotional and spiritual relations between plants and man.

 

 

Jane

 

-

Shirish Bhate

ayurveda

Friday, July 07, 2006 2:05 AM

<ayurveda> Re: Plants and himsa

<snip>

But let us divert here to your statement that plants have life. It

interested this author.

<snip>

[Guest guest]

Dear Sir,

Namaskar

 

Your article "Plant Sentiments" is a Divine composition.

Please compile all such compositions in a book for coming generations. Divine is writing through you.

 

With Regards,

Teji

 

>.........since this author feels that even those who eat green vegetables and even wheat grass etc are causing Himsa and thus cruelty on plants.